


Planet UK

by SlytherinProfessor



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24477691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinProfessor/pseuds/SlytherinProfessor
Summary: Who might Liz Ten invite if Starship UK managed to end their journey?
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	1. Chapter 1

Planet UK

‘Planet UK, the year 5215, do you like it guys?’ The Doctor asked, smiling, stepping out of the Tardis and gesturing at the glistening citadel in the distance. Brand new buildings, classic British architecture seamlessly meshed with modern features. It shouldn’t work but it did, and it was a world away from the worn down pipes and plates of the starship.

‘Like it? I don’t even know what it is’ Graham said, stepping out onto the pavement.

‘Imagine, whole of the UK minus Scotland of course, can’t drag them anywhere they don’t want to go, back of a space whale, giant tower blocks. Few hundred years of lovely old Queen Liz…’ she began explaining, before being interrupted.

‘She’s how old?’ Ryan interjected, shocked. He didn’t think the Queen would last another ten years, never mind centuries.

‘Liz Ten Ryan, not the second!’ she laughed, correcting him quickly.

‘Still, a lot though …’ he muttered, wondering if living for ages was a perk of royalty or if it managed to trickle down to the plebs. Probably just the rich people.

‘Well she looks good for it. So anyway, they escape Earth, and finally settle on a planet they can call home, an Earth 2. And here we are. Four years and they’re all finished, and we’ve been invited to the ceremony. I say we, Doctor and guests, bit weird if she knew who you lot were. Do you fancy it?’ She asked, excited. She loved having mates, but three of them meant she was fielding questions for a lot longer than normal. Still easier than Donna though. Anyone was easier to get going than Donna. God she missed her.

‘Why not call it Earth 2?’ Yaz asked, pulling her from her ruminations.

‘Because Yaz…’ the doctor started, then stopped. Really, it probably would have flowed better.

‘And why you eh doc?’ Graham asked, smirking. She always seemed to get herself into the most interesting types of trouble.

‘Had a run in with her didn’t I. Hell of a woman, very fast with a gun. Reminded me a bit of someone actually. She won’t know my face, but she’s quick, I don’t think it’ll be too much of a problem.’ Probably.

Today was going to be a day for remembering then. When she and River had been comparing notes after the Pandorica, she’d wondered if Liz and River had gotten along during their very brief encounter. A thief and a monarch. An unlikely pair really. Liz might have even liked her enough to share the good whisky.

* * *

‘I’m glad you made it Doctor. Though you look a little different than last time, I like what you’ve done with your hair.’ The Grenadier Guards had briefly detained them, but word had reached her quickly about a mysterious stranger with a specific ticket and a certain name. They’d had his picture, but faces change, apparently a lot sometimes.

‘I think I suit being a blonde! Been a while!’ It really had. Over two millennia. Whatever they were doing to keep their ruler young, it was working. Barely a bit of grey since they’d seen her in the 32nd century.

‘Yes, and some of us had to come the long way round!’ Liz smirked, before registering the Doctor’s pained expression. At least she’d managed to keep her memories this time.

‘Don’t even get me started on the long way round Liz, honestly.’ The timelords had a lot to answer for. 

‘Different friend this time, and they’re multiplying.’ Liz noted. She was curious about Amy of course, but if she wasn’t here, she didn’t want to hurt the doctor by bringing her up again. If the doctor had been able to bring the other woman, she probably would have. Time travel had its privileges.

‘More of your subjects though, always seem to have at least one around’ the Doctor laughed. It was weird how her mates kept coming from the same time and place. At least she’d gone for the north this time.

‘We’re made of strong stuff, good in a crisis, which I’m sure comes in handy’ the queen smiled.

‘Not ‘alf love. I’m Graham, pleased to meet you. Doc, should I be kneeling or?’ he asked, unsure of himself.

‘Save your knees Graham, I might be the bloody queen but I don’t really go in for all of that.’

‘Woman after my own heart.’ Graham smiled. He wasn’t sure his joints could handle it anyway.

‘You’re black!’ Ryan blurted out suddenly.

‘Ryan!’ Yaz hissed, colouring slightly. They couldn’t take him anywhere.

‘Well I’m sorry, but she is. How can the Queen of England be black?’ He asked, confused.

‘United Kingdom, and we’ve evolved a bit over the past few centuries. Anyone who had a problem, was a problem.’ Liz replied, smiling gently. It hadn’t been an issue for a long time, but they’d had a hell of a time getting there.

‘It’s so good to know it gets better. We’ve seen some positive things in the future, but back in our time, riots, protests, inequality. I didn’t think I’d ever see Britain be so accepting. After seeing the partition of India with the Doctor…’

‘and Martin Luther King’ Ryan interjected.

‘Well for today, don’t worry about it. You’re here, guests of honour, have some bubbly and put your feet up. Though prepare to be bombarded with questions, there’s only so much the archives cover and I’m dying to know what life was like back in…’ Liz trailed off

‘Oh. 2020.’ Yaz supplied.

‘Jesus. Yeah, get ready to tell me everything.’


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

‘Ryan, just pick something and come on. We’re going to be late. It’s a suit, not rocket science.’ Yaz said frustratedly. Ryan had been going back and forth on the screens for the past twenty minutes. They’d been shown to a private dressing room, with the explanation that they could simply choose an outfit, be scanned, and have it printed to fit them perfectly. Convenient, but then, the future always did seem to hold weird and wonderful surprises for them. At least this one was helpful and not, you know, trying to kill them.

‘Yeah but it’s all futuristic and weird. I dunno which ones look cool to people out there.’ He complained. The styles were so wildly different, bright colours and interesting cuts. He didn’t know what to make of it.

‘First of all, it’s not as if you’re actually going to meet someone you can take back to Sheffield, so it doesn’t matter anyway. Second, we’re in a palace. I reckon everything there has to be fashionable. So pick something you like and get a move on. Right Graham?’ She responded, gesturing to the older man, who notably hadn’t had any issue and was quietly sitting to the side, fully ready to go.

‘Right you are Yaz. Doc, seen anything you like yet?’ He asked, smiling.

‘Yeahh, but I might need a bit of help getting it on?’ She asked. Given how low the zip was, she wasn’t sure her arms could reach. The gymnastics involved in women’s clothing were mind boggling, even to her.

‘Don’t look at me’ Ryan blurted out. Nobody had been, but it didn’t hurt to make sure. Yaz rolled her eyes at him.

‘I’ll help. Oh, it’s stunning. Never worn a dress like this before?’ She gushed, looking at the screen. Red, semi -backless and thigh length, it was a daring choice. Yaz wasn’t sure she’d have worn something like that even now, but the doctor wasn’t exactly lacking in confidence.

‘Nope! Haven’t been a woman long enough to try. Fancied a bit of a change, not every day we get to go to this nice a party with nobody trying to kill us!’

‘Famous last words Doc. You’ve jinxed us now!’ Graham laughed, though it was hollow. All the Queen’s men (and horses) couldn’t keep her out of trouble for very long.

* * *

‘I think I’m going to go for a sit down, not used to heels. You have fun Graham; you all definitely need a break!’ The doctor stated tiredly. They'd been dancing and socialising for a while, but she needed a breather. She really wasn't as young as she used to be. 

‘Only if you’re sure doc, I’ll keep an eye on them. Yaz can handle herself but Ryan could get himself into a bit of bother.’ He replied kindly. Always so protective. 

‘They’ll be fine, Liz will be having someone keep an eye on them, and I know you’ve been wanting to have a chat with her. She can’t talk to normal people very often, it’s lonely at the top. Why don’t you have a word, tell her about London? I’m sure she’s dying to know. Been a long time for her, and she’s never going back. Now’s your chance, she’s on her own!’ she replied, smiling at the man. Centuries younger than herself, but he never failed to look out for them all, even her. It was something she liked a lot about him. Reminded her a bit of Wilfred Mott actually. Good old Wilf.

‘Me chatting to a queen, if Grace could see me now, she’d be in stitches’ He laughed. She’d know how to do this better than him, that was for sure. With a wave, he headed off towards the monarch, who beamed at him in response.

* * *

Her feet didn’t half hurt. She’d been told in no uncertain terms that a dress like that didn’t work with a ratty pair of converse, so she’d picked out some moderately high shoes. Big mistake. Thousands of years and the human race hadn’t found a way to make footwear comfortable. At least they were pretty.

She glanced around the room, the myriad of colours a world away from the drab, muted environment of the ship. Perhaps that was the point. A voyage spanning centuries needed routine, order, people being boring and predictable. It needed the conservation of resources, humans living at a basic level which still provided satisfaction and comfort. Nothing like this opulence. They’d been busy over the past few years, and tech neglected for generations was being phased back in now that they had resources to spare. Nanotechnology, printed wearables, back when she’d been on Starship UK they’d probably darned their socks themselves. It wasn’t a bad thing to see the move away from it, a society healing and growing and changing. Liz Ten was a worthy leader, finally able to hand the mantle of control onto her elected citizens, careful to never make the mistakes of the past again. Starting things out right. Oh, they’d falter, as all societies did, but for now, it was a peaceful, happy place built on solid foundations. Enough for everyone. The doctor was happy to be here. She’d been surprised when she’d found the ticket in a dusty archive, a few planets away and several thousand years from now. The queen had wanted her here, and knew that preserved long enough by the right people, there might be a chance of her friend’s attendance. The soldiers (more ceremonial than anything else) had been surprised to see the weathered token presented at the gate, not least because the strangers had appeared apparently from nowhere, and the plastic (without being given the formula to destruct) could last for many centuries.

She’d have loved Amy to see this. Amy who was right, who she’d judged too harshly at first. Who’d chosen to survive, but in doing so, freed the beast of burden from an endlessly tormented existence. Not that she’d really blamed Liz for that either. The fate of millions resting on her shoulders. Thankfully they’d had a better choice in the end.

Amy, the girl who’d waited, the girl who’d died in 20th century America, never to see her daughter again. River, who’d have loved to see this. River who she’d love to see and never would again.

River, who appeared to be right over there, chatting to a dignitary, and looking for all the world like she belonged here, anachronous silver dress and everything. River fit in anywhere, no matter where you put her, no matter how she dressed. Definitely better than she did at any rate. A true child of the time-vortex. 

The doctor had had enough of seeing ghosts. She blinked.

Normally when she blinked, they’d go away.

This one wasn’t shifting. She blinked again. Nothing.

Huh. Weird.

Perhaps that green stuff had been stronger than she’d thought.

She was going to go give that ghost a piece of her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

‘How dare you show up here? When I’m not expecting you, not prepared, right when I’m having a good time with friends. It’s unfair and cruel and why can’t you just leave me alone?’ The Doctor huffed, waving her hands at the confused woman in front of her. The man she’d been chatting to quickly escaping to avoid the scene.

‘Do I know you?’ She asked, perplexed. She didn’t recognise the animated blonde, and was certain that she would have, had they met before. Beautiful and quirky, perhaps a future conquest? Time travel made dalliances so tricky at times. She hadn’t even slept with Liz at this time point. Spoilers.

‘You did! And I thought that maybe there had been enough time, but I keep catching glimpses and you’re never there and it’s never going to stop is it? We had our time, it’s done and it was brilliant and it’s gone forever, you’re gone forever.’ She rambled, anger giving way to sadness. Normally she was able to bottle it, hold it in and distract herself with dangerous new adventures. Not today, today was a day for memories. River, Amy, Donna, Wilf. People she’d loved and lost, but none more so than her wife. Famed archaeologist, naught but dust now. Known throughout the universe and all of time yet no tomb for her to visit. Not that the Doctor had ever been good at saying goodbye.

‘But…’ The brunette began, trying to make some sense of the situation, before being quickly interrupted.

‘Ghosts shouldn’t talk, River.’ The Doctor admonished gently. Stepping into the other woman’s sphere, touching her gently, feeling the contours of her face. Longing for the days when she could spend hours doing this, just looking at the person who mattered most. Knowing she couldn’t have them anymore. 

‘How do you know me? I don’t think we’ve ever met.’ She asked, feeling as though she might be lying but not being able to fathom as to why. Pointedly ignoring the hand on her face as though it were normal for her to be touched like that by a stranger. It wasn’t. She didn’t move to step away.

‘Are you here, now, alive? It’s not a dream again is it?’ The time lord whispered, shaking. Tears beginning to leak from her eyes, despite herself.

‘I can assure you, I’m very real.’ Very real. With a hammering heart and sweaty palms. As if her body knew who this was and what she might mean, but her brain hadn’t yet caught up.

‘You can’t be. You can’t be because if you are, and I’ve spent so many eons without you when I could have…’ The Doctor trailed off, voice catching.

‘Sweetie…’ She began gently, before being cut off abruptly.

‘Stop sounding like her! I lost her! She’s dead and she’s never coming back, not even her ghost is coming back it’s been so long. I loved her and I lost her and I can’t go through that again.’ She whispered harshly, tears freely falling now. Soaking into the fabric of her dress.

‘Doctor?’ Yaz approached protectively, a wary glance at River, whose confused expression changed to one of shock, then sad understanding.

‘Doctor, sweetie, it’s okay. Please, let’s get you somewhere quiet.’ She began, nearly overwhelmed at the revelation, but knew she needed to get The Doctor, _her_ Doctor to privacy. They were very much in public, the politeness of high society able to afford them only so much courtesy.

‘You’re warm like her. You even smell like her.’ The Doctor mumbled as River wrapped an arm around her shoulders to lead her away.

‘I know sweetie, I know.’ River said quietly into her hair, pressing a kiss to her temple.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Yaz quickly led the pair to the private room, River not knowing where it might be, The Doctor too distraught to manage to do more than just put one foot in front of the other. With a worried glance at River, and a quick 'I hope you'll be okay Doctor' she left them to it, closing the door behind them.

River led her wife to a sofa, before sitting beside her and gently brushing away her tears. She embraced her, with The Doctor burying her head into the other woman's shoulder, bringing her arms around to squeeze her tightly, refusing to let go now River was here and real again.

'We always seem to meet out of order, though I suspect this time there's a little more to it for you?' River asked tentatively, meeting The Doctor's eyes as she lifted her head to answer. Gently brushing blonde hair behind her ears, stroking her arms comfortingly.

'You could say that River. I'm sorry, I just…' The Doctor started and stopped, unsure of what to say. What words could possibly express the gravity of her pain, the longing she felt, the need she had to have this woman with her again, knowing she never could, not beyond today.

'You don't have to explain. It's always been a part of our reality, I'm limited in ways you could never be, this was inevitable.' River replied gently. If their situations were reversed, she imagined she'd be just as devastated as the shaking woman in front of her. The idea that the living goddess was so affected was both tragic and awe inspiring. A love story for the ages.

'Don't say that like it doesn't mean everything. Like you're just somebody. That I wouldn't want…' She started again, normally eloquent but struggling to find her words. River meant more to her than anyone she'd ever known. Her wife may have risked the universe for her, but The Doctor with the power of time on her side would have risked even more.

'Want what darling?' River prompted gently.

'I would trade every moment of this endless life for a normal life with you. All of it. I've lived thousands of years without you and it's as if a part of me left with you. Of all the people in time and space, I'll never meet a single person who means as much to me as you do.' She replied, every single word the truth.

'Doctor, the universe cries out for you, I've seen it, you can't possibly…' River began, overwhelmed with feeling. While she loved The Doctor absolutely, he'd never been a man to share his feelings like this. Her wife was vulnerable, open, raw.

'I love you with everything I have River. Always have, always will. Everything, everyone good reminds me of you. I even think I see flickers of you sometimes when I turn too quickly or when I open my eyes. Just for a moment, then gone again.

'Hence the misplaced anger.' River smiled gently, fully understanding now.

'I never thought I'd see you again. Let alone touch you.' The Doctor whispered, running her hands along River's back gently, as if checking she was real, solid, not another figment of her imagination.

'Well, I'm here now.' She replied, craving the touch as she always did. Desperately wanting the pain of missing the woman she loved to leave her, if just briefly.

'I shouldn't have, nobody should see this, should know what happens to who they leave behind.' The Doctor stuttered out, starting to pull away, remembering herself, remembering _why._

'The universe hasn't ended, nothing has exploded. It's not as if I ever expected to live forever, certainly not with the life I lead. I have no more regenerations.' River replied flippantly, with a level of casualness that horrified The Doctor, as if what her wife was saying wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to her.

'But what if this changes the future, what if seeing you means you do something differently, that it changes the whole world?' Time travel had responsibilities; she'd seen first-hand what happened to people who meddled. A heartbroken Rose Tyler crying over the broken form of her father.

'You know better than I that this wasn't planned. It was meant to happen. You've seen my future self. You've seen her die. That's a fixed point. Nothing either of us can do will change that. My future, death aside, is unwritten, your past is not. Our meetings will happen as they happen, regardless of what is decided now.' River explained. The Doctor knew the rules better than she, but time did have its mercies. While The Doctor certainly couldn't track her down again to go off on adventures, if River kept some days aside, meaningless, boring days, it might be that her Doctor could see her again after all.

'Then I'm responsible for not changing things.' The Doctor countered, unsure. Desperate to acquiesce, to promise to visit River every day of her life if she'd let her. Knowing that it wasn't that simple, that they'd need more than the promise of vacant lazy Saturday afternoons to keep the universe turning while they crossed time and space to be together.

'Let us have today. Let us worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.' River replied, knowing their discussion was far from over, knowing that perhaps, with any luck, this wouldn't be their last moment together for The Doctor. River had many happy days to come, and many days fraught with terror, though there was nowhere she'd rather be than at The Doctor's side, in whatever body that might be.

'But River…' She began again, with little energy. Too emotionally exhausted, wanting the woman in front of her too much to fight any longer.

'Hush sweetie' She replied, before pulling her to her feet, leaning in and kissing her firmly.

* * *

Kissing River always felt like coming home. Her painted lips, her gentle curves, the way she smiled into the kiss, wrapping her hands around her neck and burying them in her hair. How she longed for it. There were differences this time. Far from towering over her wife, The Doctor was just an inch or so shorter, and she adored it. She felt like she was being possessed, rather than being the possessor, soft curves fitting together in ways that felt almost filthy in the opulence of their surroundings, as though they were sullying the place, though she didn't care one bit.

River's lips were as soft as they always were, but she never ceased to revel in their caress. Her wife seemed enthralled by hers, more so than ever before. Different, softer, less chewed to oblivion thanks to Yaz and her tips about lip balm. The Doctor wished they could do this forever. Maybe if she closed her eyes and prayed to the old gods hard enough, they might be able to.

Pushing the thoughts away, she pulled her wife in more firmly, harder, slipping a thigh between her legs, pushing her tongue past River's lips and teasing playfully at her tongue. River matched her, tongue slipping into The Doctor's mouth, hands grasping at blonde hair, pulling hard enough to thrill her but not hard enough to hurt.

They always seemed to get lost in each other. They never tired of getting lost in each other. River, for once the most level-headed, quickly activated her transporter, taking them to somewhere, anywhere where they could be alone together. They wouldn't be missed for a few hours. She could make it up to Liz, her friends would be okay, and she wanted to savour every single moment of the woman in front of her. Their time was precious, and she wouldn't dream of wasting any of it.


End file.
